Young males in Bermuda are suffering because there is a lack of strong male leadership roles, a boy-scout expert said recently.

Gary Dowling, chief commissioner of the Bermuda Scout Association, addressed the Lions Club during their latest monthly luncheon about the need for more community involvement in boy scouts.

And Mr. Dowling said it is necessary to attract males aged 11 to 12-years-old to become the leaders of the future if the organisation is to survive.

"It's been a difficult task,'' Mr. Dowling said. "We are trying to get the youth involved because our longer serving members have either passed or have moved on.'' With 20 years of service in Bermuda's scout organisation, Mr. Dowling warned that there are "counteractive'' forces in Bermuda's society that are working as negative influences with young males.

He noted that being involved in the boy scouts could help to shape a child "into a productive member of society.'' "Young men are getting involved in the types of things that are bad in the community,'' he explained. "Kids spend too much time looking at money and material things.

"The only way to turn that cycle around is to get them involved in a male oriented organisation so that they can be decent livable citizens.'' Mr. Dowling said there is a stifling attitude toward young males in the community and that they are receiving only partial guidance.

"There is a lack of male influences in the community,'' he continued. "When they go to church, they see that there are 90 women that show up and 10 men.

"Therefore our young males experience (mainly) a female influence. We need to show them the direction they should be going to show them the straight and narrow.'' "A man should be proud of his son so that he can become a strong leader of the community.'' Mr. Dowling highlighted some of the skills young males are taught when they become a boy scout and said these skills are beneficial in shaping a young male throughout life.

"We teach kids to look after themselves,'' he said. "We teach them things like how to build campfires, how to treat people and how to interact with others.

"But the real joy of being a boy and experiencing things like camping out are missed by a lot of boys.'' For that reason, Mr. Dowling is urging parents to enroll their children into the scout organisation and he is also encouraging parents and members of the community to take an active role in becoming a scout leader.

"A lot of people get turned off when they think they need all kinds of special skills to be a scout leader,'' he said. "The only leadership skills you need are only to be a decent human being.'' He added: "We face a dilemma of people not making themselves available to support these things. They go to work to associate and go home. What people need to do is broaden their horizons. It really doesn't require a lot of time.

If you are a parent, you need to make sure that your son is attending.'' Mr. Dowling noted that Bermuda's boy scout organisation is part of an international community, with a total of 1.5 million members.

He said there are plans to open up three more clubs in the next few months, one in Devonshire and two in Hamilton.

And he encouraged anyone interested to call their 24-hour line at 296-7784.

"We've never had a problem getting kids involved,'' he said.

"Our real thrust is getting young males becoming a part of the organisation.

The benefits are great knowing that you will become a part of the largest youth organisation in the world.